Along with noticing that most people under driving age can’t read cursive anymore, or that quick-reaction multiplication tables are out of the reach of that same demographic, there is another concerning trend afoot. This one might be called, “Whatever happened to history?”
You know. History — the things that happened in our pasts. The people, their actions, their beliefs, how one thing influences another, the glimpses into motivations of people both like us and dissimilar. History—perhaps predictor of the future; at least a means of understanding how we’ve gotten to where we are.
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Tallahassee Community College has a plan to put the spotlight on history again with a Tallahassee History Festival and Expo from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at Kleman Plaza.
TCC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Anthony Jones, says that “History has taken a hit at the college level over the last eight or 10 years. Previously, to receive an Associates of Arts degree, it was necessary to complete two semesters of History.”
Now, since 2017, a student must only take either one course in History or in National Government, and pass an exam based on U.S. Immigration and Naturalization standards to satisfy a Civics Literacy requirement. But you don’t have to know about European history, American history, African-American and indigenous people’s history, or even know whether we landed a man on the moon.
Putting the fun into history
And that is something that, among many others, President Jim Murdaugh of TCC hopes to rectify — not through draconian insistence on historical knowledge, but by showing the young and older citizens of Tallahassee alike, that history in all its guises, can be stimulating and even fun.
Jones says that beginning in 2020, Murdaugh had gathered representatives from a cross-section of faculty, administration, students, and the community to discuss Barriers to Equity and Inclusion.
Meeting once a month, the conversations were candid and aimed toward positive action. As it developed, it seems the template to highlight the subject may have already been in place.
Under Murdaugh, TCC already presented a Science Festival every October that focuses on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.) Why not a History Festival — one that could showcase particularly North Florida history, but in that “all history is related,” Native American, African American, and European history as well?
Raising history questions
Bob Holladay, a professor of History at TCC for the last 17 years, and President of the Tallahassee Historical Society, says that he knows that not only have subjects in the humanities been slipping through the cracks in recent years, but that politics and history seem to collide more often. He doesn’t sound surprised.
“History is 95% interpretive. Objective history doesn’t exist. The most we can ask for is fairness in understanding,” Holladay said. “History is not math. It should be controversial and raise more questions than it answers.”
David Proctor, TCC’s Program Chair for History and Anthropology, along with Dr.Teresa Paliwoda of the English Department, are Co-Directors of the up-coming History Festival.
Proctor agrees that, “History is a fluid topic. It can be contested and it can be interpreted in various ways. But first it’s necessary to get the whole, evidence-based and scholarship-based story.” He says he sees history in general as “big and broad,” where no one narrative can be employed all of the time. Proctor and the other committee members are eager to open the doors to those discoveries.
Museum displays and presenters
With what Holladay says will be over 50 participants, on March 26 from 10AM until 2PM, Kleman Plaza will be filled with booths, perhaps a stage, likely “personalities” in historical attire. New and antiquarian book sellers will be on hand. The historical societies from Wakulla and Tallahassee will be there.
Displays from the Florida History Museum, the Dale Mabry Museum Project, Mission San Luis, Riley House, the Grove, the Florida Trust for Historical Preservation, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Camp Gordon Johnston, and the Tuskegee Airmen, among many others, will be present. Dr. A.J. Brickler will speak about his famous relative, Harriet Tubman.
Holladay’s hope is that Murdaugh’s innovative idea for a Festival of History will get young and old thinking — wondering what was going on years and years ago, questioning the choices that were made, and evaluating the outcomes.
Tallahassee Community College invites everyone for a delightful day wading into the past, while remembering that today is tomorrow’s history and that we should care.
If you go
What: TCC’s Tallahassee History Festival and Expo
Where: Kleman Plaza, Downtown Tallahassee
When: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, March 26
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